Fabric making



Aug. 15, 1933. R. J. SOUTHWELL ET AL FABRIC MAKING Filed Nov. 14, 1930 8 Sheets-Sheet 1 ffidr/ J MdM/M A M 'r'ro R N EYS OOOOOOOOOOO 8 Sheets-Sheet 2 T S Z6224;

E ATTORNEYS IIHI R; J. SOUTHWELL ET AL FABRIC MAKING File d Nov. 14. 1930 Aug. 15, 1933.

Aug. 15, 1933. R. J. SOUTHW ELL El AL 7 FABRIC MAKING Filed Nov. 14, 1930 8 Sheets-Sheet '3 ATTORNEYS Aug. 15, 1933. R. J. SOUTHWELL ET AL FABRIC MAKING Filed Nov. 14, 1930 8 Sheets-Sheet 4 I .l LH IH- l l l ATTORNEYS I! lllllll ll INA? Aug. 15, 1933. 'R. J. SOUTHWELL m AL 1,922,270

FABRI C MAKING 8 Sheets-sheaf 5 Filed NOV. 14, 1950 l r gzii Aug. R. J. SOUTHWELL ET AL FABRIC MAKING Filed No 14, 1950 8 Sheets-Sheet 6 0 M E MW N wm T T A nay/fE4 Aug. 15, 1933.

FABRIC MAKING Filed Nov. 14, 1930 8 Sheets-Sheet .7

ATTO R N EYS 1933. R. J. SOUTHWELL ET AL 1,922,270

FABRIC MAKING Filed No'v. 14, 1950 8 Sheets-Sheet 8 3 @tf/ZZF WATTORNEYS Patented Aug. 15, 1933 FABRIC MAKING Raymond J. Southwell, New Rochelle, and Theodore H. Wickwire, Jr., New York, N. Y., assignors to Welded Fabrics Corporation, New York, N. Y., a Corporation of New York Application November 14, 1930 Serial No. 495,598

10 Claims. (01. 14o i12) Our invention relates to making mesh fabric. The invention is herein described with special reference to manufacture of electrically welded wire fabric, but its advantages can be realized with strands of other material, and fastened together in other ways.

Such fabric has neither warp nor woof in the ordinary sense, but can be made in continuous strip form from a set of continuous parallel wires or strands laid or folded recurrently' inwardly from edge to edge of the strip width at a common angle to the longitudinal direction thereof, and with each fold or lay over a part of the preceding fold or lay, so that the leading wire of the set is always at one face of the fabric and the rearmost wire of the set is always on the other face, with the intermediate wires of the set' in each lay or fold disposed partly at one face and partly at the other in graduated relation therebetween.

Such a fabric has the advantage from the standpoint of manufacture that it can be formed from multiple wires rapidly and continuously by our invention, and that preliminary preparatory operations, such as winding warp on a warp rolllike, are elimer, tying on new warps, and the inated.

The principal object of the invention consists in the process for making such fabric.

ing point.

Other objects ars in part pointed out below and others are obvious from the description.

In the drawings: Figure 1 is a general plan view;

Fig. 2 is a general side elevational view;

Fig. 3 is an end elevational view;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged plan view of the mecha-- nism for effecting transverse reciprocation of the wire supplying nozzles;

Fig. 5 is a section on line 5-5 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a bottom plan view, with parts broken away, of the structure shown in Fig. 5;

Fig 7 is a section taken substantially on line 7---'? of Fig. 5;

Fig. 8 is a cross-section on line 8 -8 of Fig. 5; Fig. 9 is a cross-section on line 9-9 of Fig. 5; Fig. 10 is a further enlarged front elevational detail view of a portion of Fig. 4;

Fig. 11 is-a diagrammatic perspective view of a mechanism for oscillating the wire supplying nozzles;

Fig. 12 is a detail section on line 12-12 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 13 is a front elevation, with parts broken away, of the apparatus shown in Fig. 12;

Fig. 14 is an enlarged plan view, partly in section, of a part of one of the conveyors taken at a region of conveyor divergence provided to pull the fabric strands out-straight preparatory to welding;

Fig. 15 is an enlarged sectional view of the welding mechanism taken on line 1515 of Fig. 1;

ing members on one side and back on the other side thereof.

Reference character 10 designates two elongated continuously travelling parallel series of wire'engaging, holding and releasing members, preferably formed,'-if the fabric is made to lie horizontally, as is ordinarily the case, as vertically extending pins which may be slightly hooked on their backs at 12 in order to prevent accidental disengagement of the wire therefrom, and also to insure a slight-downward sliding movement of the wire engaged thereby, in order Fig. 16 is a plan view of the showing of Fig. 4

to permit the wire delivering nozzles 14 to clear 4 same on the rettim stroke.

Various means may be used for producing the continuous forward movement of the wire engaging members 10 in thedirection of arrow 16 on Fig. 1. That here shown consists of a pair of elongated parallel sprocket chains 18 running over and driven from sprockets 20, 20', fixed to opposite ends of cross shafts 21, 21, so as to move in unison. Such arrangement is not claimed herein as applied in the manufacture of fabric comprising warp and woof wires, same being a sole invention of applicant Southwell, and covered by his application Serial No. 436,949, filed March 19th, 1930.

The connection of the members 10 to the links 22 of the sprocket chains 18 is such as to permit the members 10 on the conveyor chains to approach towards and recede from each other to some extent in order to increase or diminish the tautness and-straightness with which the wire is held, for releasing the fabricated product, etc., and also the arrangement is such as to relieve the sprocket chain 18 and sprockets 20 from side strain. These conditions are met in the form shown by securing the members 10 to slides 24 slidable in and out transversely to the direction of chain travel, grooved slideway members 26, attached to chain links 22,and the lateral strain imposed on the members 10 and slides 24 is taken by track rails 28 engaged by anti-friction rollers 30 on slides a 24. A trackway 32 for rollers 30 may be provided between rail 28 and a parallel back rail 34, and the upper reaches 35 of the roller chains 18, whereon the mesh is formed run upon the horizontal tracks 38. A suitable machine frame work 39 is provided at each side of the relatively elongated machine to support rails 28 and 34, tracks 38, and other machine parts.

In the making of welded wire fabric, the .wire strands 40 are supplied, preferably from individual spools (not shown), and are run through a tensioning and positioning guide or guides 42, whence they are distributed to the laying nozzles 14, which have a reciprocating movement transverse to the paths of members 10, 10, and operate to engage the wire strands 40 with pins or hooks ing wire strands 40 back and forth transversely,

10 and to form a mesh built up and carried along on the travelling pins 10 in a manner presently to be described; the strands are welded at 41; the members 10 are released from the welded fabric at 41 and the completed fabric is delivered to a take-up. roll (not shown), or the like.

Referring now to the means for laying or foldthe wire receiving and distributing nozzles 14 are preferably arranged in a set extending parallel to the conveyors 18 and to stand substantially vertically, and the wire strands 40 are passed through the bores 46' therein, the mouths 48 of such bores 46 being preferably rounded and enlarged for the ready insertion and easy guiding of the wires, and the tips 50 at the lower end of the nozzles through which the wire 40 is delivered, being pointed somewhat so as to facilitate the passing of the nozzles 14 between the hook members 10. Nozzles 14 are spaced the same distance apart as the members 10, and same are here shown inserted and held in parallel holes in shaft 52, and shaft 52 is 'journalled near its two ends in bearings 54 on a cross-carriage 56 having a reciprocating movement transversely of the path of movement of sprockets 18 upon the guide rails 38.

With the form here shown, carriage 56 is actuated in its reciprocating movement by a revolving counterweighted crank 60 and connecting rod 62, andthe timing of carriage 56 is controlled through bevel gears 64, 66, worm reduction drive 68 and crank 60 so that the carriage 56 moves across once in the same time interval that it takes .for longitudinal advancement of half as many of the pinslO as there are wire supplying nozzles 14.

When making use of crank arm actuation of the cross-carriage 56, the speed of movement of the carriage is, of course, least at the ends of the 'stroke, and at such time, in order to accurately as carriage 56 is.

in dove-tail- For this purpose, the nozzles 14 are passed through a second shaft 70 parallel to shaft 52, and

translatory movement is imparted to the member s '70 to produce oscillatory movement of the nozzles '78, crank 80, and shaft 82, said shaft 82 being actuated at each reversal of movement of the carriage 56 by means of the spinal projection 84 depending from said shaft 82 which moves in and out with carriage 56, being engaged by the upwardly projecting lug 86 rotating with the crank 60 and engaging said spinal projection 84 to turn shaft 82 somewhat and thereby produce outward pivotal movement of nozzles 14 at opposite ends of the travel of carriage 56.

For producing returning movement of the nozzles 14, We provide a pair of springs 88 and 90 which, by acting on crank arm 92 of shaft 82, serve respectively to bring the shaft 82 back to neutral position after being turned to either side therefrom, returning nozzles 14 to substantially their normal position.

In order to avoid chattering movement of the nozzles 14, and any undue yielding thereof to the pull of the wires during the principal portions of the stroke of the cross carriage 56, we provide 1'.

locking means for holding the nozzles 14 in substantially vertical position during the entire movement of the cross carriage except at the periods of reversal, at which times they are unlocked to permit the additional oscillatory move- 1 face 104 adapted to be engaged by the cam follower ring 106, concentric with the axis of the pivotal bearing 108 between the counterweighted crank arm 60 and its connecting rod 62. The clutch dog 96 on slider 98 is normally spring pressed by a spring 110 into engagement with dog 7 94 on the gang bar 76, but immediately prior to reversals of the travel of the carriage 56, the clutch is released by the dog 96 being retracted by engagement, with cam 102, of the push ring 106 rotating with the crank 60, which said engagement is repeated at each 180 of rotation of said crank, whereupon the nozzles 14 are oscillated by the chain of elements actuated from the crank lug 86 and spring 88 or 90, as described.

' The movement of nozzles 14, including movement with carriage 56, as well as the additional oscillatory nozzle -moveme nt imparted in the manner described, serves to carry the nozzles 14 and the wire strands 40 carried thereby outwardly past the pins 10 on one side thereof, and then inwardly past the same pins 10 on the other side thereof, as indicated (for the nozzles and pins at one side of the apparatus) in Figs. 20 to 23, inelusive.

As indicated in said figures, the pins 10 move continuously towards the right. In Fig. 20, the dotted lines show the nozzles 14 moving outward to take the positions occupied by the pins 10, whereas the full lines indicate substantially the relative positions upon a further outward movement of the nozzlesand wires --and a further corresponding forward movement of pins 10. In the showing of Fig. 21, the nozzles i l-have moved outwardly past the leading side of the corresponding pins 10, while pins 10 have moved to the right, leaving intermediate spaces on the following sides of corresponding pins 10 through which the nozzles retreat The nozzles 14 are shown in Fig. 22 moving backwardly and in the act of passing the pins 10; and in Fig. 23, are shown to have moved beyond pins 10, all resulting in the wire strands 40. 40, having been guided, carried, hooked, or folded around pins 10. It will be understood that at the opposite end of the carriage stroke the wire strands are engaged, in reverse manner from that shown in Figs. 20-23, with pins 10 at the opposite side or selvage of the mesh structure being formed.

As already noted, the pins 10 are preferably undercut or hooked on their rear surfaces at 12. so that the strands 40 upon engaging therewith immediately slide down somewhat, leaving a clear path thereover for return passage of nozzles 14 and the laying of the successive bights of wire 40.

The production of the mesh in the manner described with its strands held in mesh relation on travelling pins 10 preparatory to @being attached together, as by welding, is indicated in Figs. 17, 18, and 19.

Taking a ten nozzle machine and a lay for simplicity of illustration, and numbering opposite pins alike in sets of 1 to 10, and 1' to 10, Fig. 17 shows the first lay or fold completed, the

' strands 40 engaging pins 1,2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and

10 at the start and on the other side engaging pins 6', 7', 8', 9, l0, 1, 2, 3', l, and 5'- respectively, this being due to forward travel of the pins that takes place during cross-travel of the nozzles. In Fig. 18, the progressive building up of the mesh is illustrated at a point where the nozzles, in addition to having crossed over once, as in Fig. 17, have returned to the original side, the strands engaging the next set of pins 1 to 10, and in Fig. 18, the showing includes a third crossing.

It will be seen that l'ht successive lays or folds of the stripes are rhombuslike in outline, divided along the shortest diagonal into two triangular parts, that nearest the laying nozzles forming always an underply,to be later covered over by the wires of the succeeding lay or foldand the remaining triangular part being superposed as a top layer or ply over the originally single ply part of the preceding fold. Thus the wire fed from the nozzle 14 that is nearest the take up reel will always be found completely exposed on top of the mesh (if formed horizontally), that from nozzle 14 at the opposite end of the series will always be found entirely on the under side of the mesh material, with a graduation therebetween through all the intermediate stages, the wire from the central nozzle, for example, being substantially half in the top ply and half in the under ply of the mesh. .Such fabric and mesh is not claimed herein, as stated above, being the sole invention of applicant Wickwire.

The mesh so laid and held in position by the travelling pins 10, but not as yet welded or other.- wise fastened at the strand crossings, is indicated by reference character 116. Preparatory to welding, or otherwise securing same, it is desirable that the wires be accurately positioned with respect to one another, and also straightened out. To do this, we may provide a roller 118 having a series of rows of pins 120 of the spacing desired to be secured in the production of the wire mesh, preferably arranged in the path of the mesh between the rows of pins 10 at a point immediately in advance of the welding apparatus so that the pins 120 enter between the wires and hold samethe wires at the point where they are to be welded, and the straightening or tautening of the wires preparatory to welding is secured by localized slight divergence of the track ways 32, as at 122 (Fig. 14) and resulting localized increase of the distance between the pins 10.

In making welded wire mesh fabric, we provide means for securing the strands together at their crossings by welding, preferably by continuous electrical welding. In'the arrangement shown, the wire mesh at the welding station 124 is moved with the travelling pins 10 over a ground roller 126, preferably of copper, and beneath a series of short welding rollers 134 having conducting ring portions 136, immediately above the wire crossings, with interposed insulation bands arranged flush with the roller surface to give a smooth roller surface so as not to distort the mesh. The number of conducting ring parts 136 and, therefore, or wire crossings to be welded by each of the welding rollers 134, is dependent on thecapacity of the transformers used, rollers 134 illustrated having six welding ring surfaces and welding six crossings in groups of three each as the mesh travels along. Multiple welds can be made simultaneously in this manner, care being taken to see that the roller section is sufficiently great to supply substantially equal current den- ,sity for each weld. The distance between the ground roller 126 and the upper welding rollers 13% is so adjusted and regulated that, whereas a single strand 40 can pass therebetween without completing the circuit, contact is made and the circuit completed and weld made by two crossing wires passing between the rolls. Adjustable pressure applying means,such as weights 140, mayv be provided to apply pressure during welding pr0' portioned to the gage of wire being welded.

It will be observed that with the carriage actuating mechanism arranged at one side of the travelers (right side in Fig.--3), the other side is left free and open and in making adjustments, as for example, for decreasing the width, the adjustment can be confined to the traveler on the free side, leaving the other traveler undisturbed.

We may arrange to contact a spelter wire having a flux core, or equivalent, with the hot freshly welded wire jungtures immediately after leaving the weld rolls, to produce local galvanizing at the crossing points immediately after welding and thereby prevent progressive oxidation of the wire which has been subjected to oxidizing temperature during welding. v

After welding, the fabric is complete and is released by the pins 10 being madeto approach one another somewhat at'el by a local slight approachment of the track ways-32, thereby permitting the pins to be withdrawn from the fabric will be understood that other forms can be made.

We claim:

1. The process of continuously making a strip of open mesh fabric which consists in arranging the several strands of a set of continuous strands to extend parallel to one another from edge to edge of the strip width, then parallel to one another thereover back to the first edge, and so on, while advancing same longitudinally of the strip in crossing over or back a distance substantially equal to the width of the set of strands,. whereby a substantially continuous and complete diamond-pattern mesh is obtained with substantially evenly spaced strand loops along the edges, and securing the strands together locally at the points of crossing.

2. The process of claim 1, further characterized in that the strands are metallic and the fastenings at the points of crossing are produced by electrical welding.

3. The process of .making a continuous strip of. open mesh fabric which consists in arranging the several strands of a set of continuous strands to extend parallel to one .another from edge to edge of the strip width, then parallel to one another thereover back to the first ledge, and so on, while advancing same longitudinally of the strip in crossing over or back a distance substantially equal to the width of the set of strands, whereby a substantially continuous and complete diamond-pattern mesh is obtained with substantially evenly spaced loops along the edges,

holding the strands in the described relation by the marginal loops thereof and travelling same longitudinally, and securing the strands together at their crossings while so held, and releasing and delivering the complete fabric continuously.

4. The process of claim 3, further characterized in that the strands are metallic, and the fastenings at the points of crossing are produced by electrical welding.

5. The process of claim 3, further characterized in that the strands are of wire, and are secured together locally at crossings by electrical welding, and, preparatory to welding, the wires are straightened and their 'spacing substantially evenly adjusted.-

6. The process of producing a continuous strip of open mesh wire fabric which comprises leading the individual wires of a set or group of continuous wires across and back from edge to edge of the strip width, and at the same time longitudinally advancing same through such a distance I alaaaaro that the strand loops at the strip edges are substantially uniformly spaced, holding and travelling longitudinally the wires in such formation by engagement with the edge loops thereof, straightening the wires by imparting a lateral expansion to the wire formation while so held and travelling, welding the wires at their crossings in substantially a crossbelt or zone of their travel, and releasing the strand loops and delivering the completed fabric.

7'. The process of making continuous open mesh fabric which comprises arranging a series of strands to recurrently cross one another in lays of parallel strand portions and form a mesh in which the outside strands of the series are at opposite faces and the intermediate strands partly at each face, and securing the strands to-- gether locally at their crossings.

8. The process of making a continuous strip of open mesh fabric which comprises folding a set of parallel strands inwardly back and forth from and to the respective edges of the strip width while advancing same longitudinally of the strip, each fold being on top of a part of the preceding fold, and securing the strands together locally at their crossings.

9. Continuous process of making mesh fabric comprising the-steps of applying pull toa set of parallel wires by two sets of travelling pins spaced apart the width of the mesh while carrying the wires back and forth in a fixed path to engage marginal loops thereof with the. pulling pins as they travel along, thereby forming a mesh of crossing wires in whichthe forward and rear wires of the set are on opposite sides andthe intermediate wires partly on one side and partly on the other in graduated fashion therebetween, and passing the travelling mesh so held between rollers included in an electrical circuit thereby welding the wires together at their crossings.

10. Process of continuous welding of wire mesh fabric which comprises passing wire mesh containing wires that cross one another in oblique relation continuously between elongated substantially cylindrical'welding rolls spaced apart more than one butv not more than two wires thicknesses, and including such rollers in an electrical circuit, whereby crossed strands automatically complete the circuit and same are electrically welded together as they pass between the rolls.

RAYMOND J. SOUTHWML.

ODORE H. WICKWmE, JR. 

